FAQ

For your convenience, our most common customer questions are answered right here.

System Requirements / Setup:

Q: What kind of hardware do I need to run Helios?

A: Ideally you will want at least an Intel i5 or greater, 4 Gigs of RAM, GPU recommended and SSD highly recommended.

Q: How many computers am I allowed to run Helios on?

A: Short answer: TWO. Because of the nature of Offline Rendering we built the option to install Helios onto a 2nd computer as a ‘Render Workstation’ so you can have your primary development machine free to develop with

Q: What frame-rates does Helios support?

A: Helios is pre configured to support 24, 30 and 60 FPS capture.

Q: What websites can host Helios Videos?

A: Helios 360 videos can be hosted on YouTube and Facebook. Helios 2D videos can be hosted on any website.

Q: Does Helios work with Unity 5.4 Beta?

A: Presently yes and no, there are significant changed to the post processing pipeline in Unity 5.4 which need to be finalized before we can make changes to Helios. However we have successfully tested Helios with Unity 5.4 Beta 21 and had complete functionality work properly. Complete 100% support for Unity 5.4 will be added within the first week of it’s release.

Q: What operating systems does Helios work on?

A: Helios will work on Windows 7 and up, OSX Yosemite and up. Helios has not been tested on Linux distributions.

Q: Can Helios work on my iOS/Android project?

A: Technically yes, but you will need to record your video in Windows or platform mode as many pieces of Helios require full access to the Mono/.Net scripting engine. You will need to remove Helios from your project once you switch back the actual mobile platform.

Recording with VR Headset:

Q:Can I record while using my Vive or Rift?

A: Technically yes, but it is not recommended, as the controller software for these headsets tend to take over all cameras in the scene without checking to see if they are VR or not.

Q:How can I record movement from my VR headset then?

A: This is bit of a process but the steps are to:1) Remove the Helios rig from your scene completely.2) Make sure your VR headset and VR rig are hooked up and running.3) Install a Helios Session recorder on the root of your VR camera controller rig and name it something you will remember.4) Record the motion data from your headset by checking the “Save Session” checkbox and clicking play in your scene.5) Disable your VR camera control rig in your scene.6) Unhook your VR hardware from your computer.7) In your player settings disable the VR option.8) import the Helios prefab into your scene.9) On the session recorder, make sure that “Save Session” IS NOT CHECKED and that you have set the name to the same you used in step 3.10) Arm the Helios camera and click play.

Performance:

Q: Why is it taking so long to record my scene?

A: Helios is an Offline Renderer, meaning it’s not setup to record the direct video stream of Unity game play. It slows down the clock on the game loop to ensure that you get full HD quality rendering and no skipped frames. Check out this section on performance tips.

Q: Why is my 4K encoding taking so long to complete?

A: The short answer is that 4K encoding is no joke. There is a LOT of data that has to be compressed into a small stream. One thing you can do is lower the Encoding speed in Helios to something like ‘Fast’ instead of ‘Slow’. It will effect your overall video quality, but its your call.

Video Problems:

Q: My videos are upside down, what gives?

A: On Windows, some graphics cards and drivers are just, well how do I put it, weird. However, there is a setting in Helios you can use to overcome this. On the main Helios inspector, there is an option to ‘Flip Images’ you can select. You will need to use this option when you make your screen recordings.

Q: Some of the objects in my scene seem to flicker, why?

A: Chances are that the objects that seem to flicker are based on Skinned Mesh Renderers, and for some reason these objects don’t always seem to render on cubemap captures. However, you can easily fix this by making sure that you enable the “GPU Skinning” option in player settings.

Audio Problems:

Q: My audio recording seems very slow, why?

A: Because of the way Helios works with the main AudioListener object in your scene, it will attempt to record all instances of AudioListeners. If you have more than one Audio Listener installed and active in your scene, this will cause Unity to process twice as much sound. Try disabling the AudioListener on the NON Helios Camera..

External Programs:

Q: Can I use my own Video Encoder like Premier Pro or After Effects?

A: Yes, you absolutely can. When Helios records your scene, it saves a collection of still images to your ‘Working Folder’ directory. You can simply import those as an image sequence into your favorite video editor/encoder.

Q: What is causing these black hole looking artifacts at the top and bottom of my video when I use programs like Premier Pro?

A: These artifacts happen when you change the image size format in your video editor. You need to make sure that your video is set to the full screen and resolution of your captured images and not have any ‘Black Bars’ in your video.

Q: I created my video in Helios, but in After Effects its like twice as long as recorded, what is happening?

A: This is likely because you recorded at a higher frame rate than your After Effects project is setup for. Just adjust the playback speed of your imported video, or adjust the frame rate of your project.

Error Messages

Q: Failed to create cubemap because it is too large for the GPU

A: This error message is common when you are trying to use Helios and your current build target is a mobile platform like iOS or Android. Ideally you would not be using Helios to record videos for these platforms as they are limited in graphic capabilities, however you still can use Helios. You just need to lower your Quality settings in Helios to a Maximum of Mobile.

Misc:

Q: Why is Helios so inexpensive?

A: There are other Unity tools out there that can capture 3D video as well, some are paid and some are free. Based on the research we did on the market, we felt that the price point we offered it at was fair and affordable enough for any Unity developer to get.

Q: I didn't exactly pay for Helios but need help, what do I do?

A: You will need an Order Number from the Unity Asset Store to get direct priority technical support for Helios. However, you can always email us anyway and explain your situation and maybe we can help anyhow.

Q: Can I use Helios to capture and create Skyboxes for Unity?

A: Yes! Since Helios works on the idea of capturing still images and compiling them into video, you can use Helios to capture an image of your scene and just load it up into your Skybox shader that accepts equirectangular formatted images.

Q: My question is not listed here, what do I do?

Other Assets:

Q: How can I make Helios work with Aquas?

A: If you try to use Aquas with Helios out of the box, you will experience strange clipping issues. This is because Aquas is set to use OnWillRenderObject instead of LateUpdate. You can modufy the main Aquas script and change this method name to make it work..